


Extraordinary Magic

by sunsetmagnolia



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Gen, a secret garden, a touch of magic, and luke is a fairy, that's about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:33:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26490457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetmagnolia/pseuds/sunsetmagnolia
Summary: Michael wanders into an enchanted garden.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8





	Extraordinary Magic

Michael walked into the garden. The gate glued onto the fence was a decoy, a pretty way of luring someone in on a day when life was boring and the most exciting thing he could think to do was leave his house for a fancy coffee. The real entrance to the garden was through an arch in the hedge, a little wooden sign hanging over the top the only thing to show that it was meant to be walked through and not just an accidental trespass onto private property. The garden was not what he expected. There were no flowers, or vegetables, or anything that would have looked like a garden. A sprawling tree in one corner had various plastic fruits attached to the branches like offerings of whimsy from whoever decided to decorate. There were rows upon rows of empty terracotta pots. Some of them had little plastic bugs propped up on their rims, and some of them were overturned with little doors painted on them, as if they were homes for creatures too small to see. There was a box along the fence with a little arrow that said “bunny burrow” and he was sure that if he looked inside, the bunnies would be fake, stuffed animals if not plastic.

The part of the garden that drew him in was the metal arch that stood in the middle, looking out over empty green on both sides. It was like an entrance to somewhere exactly the same as the side he was standing on, but it called to him all the same. The closer he stepped, the more he saw that the rusted metal had once been coated in green paint, some spots still hanging on. The rest of the arch was wrapped in fake ivy, the type that could be bought from a craft store. He stood under it and looked up at the clouds passing lazily overhead. It was cool enough that the sun didn’t bother him, but clouds were always welcome. The arch blocked his view right down the middle, sunlight peeking through the woven leaves like pricks of warmth on his face.

Walking through the arch, immediately the energy of the garden changed. It was slight, but he could feel it. Things felt more alive somehow. The pots were still empty, but they buzzed with movement that he could feel even if he couldn’t see it. The fruits on the tree swayed in the wind, and if he focused, he could maybe smell something sweet, like apples or peaches on the breeze. The ivy on the arch brushed his arm and it felt not like plastic, but like leaves: cool and green. A flash of light caught his eye near the pots and he swore he saw one of the tiny doors close as the light disappeared. If this was some kind of Alice in Wonderland trick, he marveled at the intricacy of the illusion. He knelt in the grass next to the flower pots to take a closer look at the little green door painted on the one nearest him. It had a yellow doorknob and tiny black-framed windows above that he hadn’t noticed before. There was a chipped piece of a different pot sticking up from one side, and he could almost see little puffs of smoke coming out as if it was a real chimney.

He wanted to lift the pot and peek inside, but decided that would be rude. If he was in an enchanted garden, the last thing he wanted was to be put under someone’s spell because he was too stupid to be considerate. He used the tip of one finger to knock on the door, and was surprised to see a tiny light open the door, which he was positive had been paint. The light moved much slower than the one he’d seen before. It acted different, curious almost, as it floated out of the little house and up to Michael's eye level. He watched in awe, though he couldn’t tell what it was doing or thinking. The little light began to grow, although not by much. It grew to the size of his fingernail and then stopped, but that was big enough to see what it was, a little creature that looked almost human aside from the gossamer wings poking out behind it. It was dressed in pink – maybe flower petals – and left sparkles behind everywhere it moved.

“Are you a fairy?” Michael asked quietly, in case it got scared away. It nodded its tiny head, dropping more glitter. “Are you real?”

The fairy laughed, at least that’s how Michael interpreted the bright little jingle bell sound that came from it. It held out its hand, motioning for Michael to do the same, and when he did, the fairy flitted up and wrote on his palm with glitter, or maybe magic, “ _I am real_.” After writing, it settled on one of Michael's fingers, as if expecting another question. Michael had none, only awe and disbelief. The fairy flew up and erased the words, then wrote “ _My name is Luke_.”

“I’m Michael,” he said. The fairy's face broadened with a smile. “Do you live here?”

Luke nodded. This time without getting up, he wrote “ _Yes, me and my whole family_.”

“Do the people who live in the house know?” Michael asked, gesturing to the house behind him, presumably housing the people who built the garden.

“ _Of course_ ,” Luke wrote.

“Do people…” Michael worried about how to phrase the question, though he was starting to wonder if he was imagining all of this. “Do people usually see you?”

“ _Only special people_.”

“How am I special?”

“ _You were looking_.”

Michael's eyes were pulled away by another tiny light flying out of the house, this time much faster, like the one he’d thought he’d imagined first. The light seemed to be shaking its head at Luke, who waved it away. When the light disappeared back into the house, however, Luke wrote across Michael’s hand, “ _I should go_.”

“Okay,” Michael said, and watched as Luke shrank back down into a little light, flying up and sprinkling Michael's hair with glitter before returning to the little overturned pot and closing the door behind him.

The only thing he could think to do without bothering any more fairy families was to go back the way he came. He stood up slowly, dusting the dirt off his legs. As he stood, he saw a little white rabbit poke its head out of the bunny burrow, twitching its nose and watching him fearlessly as he made his way back to the arch. Sure enough the leaves were real ivy sprouted from the ground, and sure enough, the moment he walked through to the other side, the ivy was plastic once again. Looking through the arch to the other side, it looked the same as it did on the side where he was. He supposed he could walk through again, but if it didn’t work a second time he would be sorely disappointed. As it was, he could only believe it had happened until he tried to tell someone. Everyone would think he was crazy. Maybe he wouldn’t tell anyone.

Michael walked back out through the hedge and almost made his way back into his car before he remembered the glitter in his hair. He looked at his reflection in the car window and shook his hair out a little. Fine specks of glitter caught the light as it floated down in front of him. He could try to catch it, to store it away, but it would be gone by the time he got home. Besides, the fairies knew about him now. If he was meant to see them again, all he had to do was look.


End file.
